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Subject: 11/15/91 - The National Midnight Star #378 ** Special Edition **
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The National Midnight Star, Number 378
Friday, 15 November 1991
Today's Topics:
Second Anniversary of the NMS
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Date: Fri, 15 Nov 91 13:20:32 PST
From: Jimmy Lang <jlang@CERF.NET>
Subject: Anniv. II
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TABLE of CONTENTS
-----------------
I. Foreword
II. Prelude
III. The Quiet Passing of Anniversary II
IV. Epilogue
V. A word from his most-esteemed rush-mgr
VI. Collection of thoughts from old veterans
*********************************************************************
FOREWORD
--------
There are concert spoilers in here, so don't blame me if you wanna be
surprised. Also, I must apologized for being late with this, apparently
there are many more NMS subscribers who were aware of the passing of the
2nd Anniversary of the NMS that I had realized. Most of the blame I lie
on myself, I had time to do it but lots of things came up and with the
current NMS situation with Dave and the backlog of messages in the mail
queue, this is the earliest I could do it, but read on and a lot of
reasoning will become apparent - Jimmy
Prelude
-------
Flashback: November 11, Late afternoon (California time)
"Hello Dave?"
"David speaking.."
"Dave, it's Jimmy..what's up?"
"Oh hi there."
"Say, did you know that last Saturday, November 9th was the 2nd anniversary
of the NMS?"
"What? I thought it was the November 14th ??"
"Huh? are you sure? I thought it was the 9th."
"Huh? are you sure? I thought it was the 14th."
"Check last year's digest number 98 or was it 99?"
[keyboard tapping away]
"Ok, it is 98..you're right! it was the 9th.."
(Funny eh, how we don't even remember dates and such after so long?)
[ Funny how Jimmy cleaned up my response when I discovered we'd missed it;
I seem to remember at least one four-letter word that didn't make it to
this final rendition! :-) :rush-mgr ]
And so it was the the second year of the NMS Rush digest came to a
close. So much to do and so little time, I'm sure Dave knows the
feeling. I originally wanted to plan a big issue like Digest 98 &
Digest 99 as was done for the First Anniversary of NMS, but due to time
restraints and work, nothing was coordinated in time, so here I am
trying to put together something decent. Coming up with a good idea is
also tough, lots of things have been written about the NMS, how it
started, how it works, who runs it, who does certain lists..etc.. so I
think this year, we'll have a change of pace. I guess you could call it
"How I Spent My Weekend." or more appropiately I think "The Quiet
Passing of Anniversary II"
The Quiet Passing of Anniversary II
or
How I Spent My Weekend
-----------------------------------
This tour was supposed to take me to the D.C. area near Largo, where I
was to have met up with Dave (our humble rush-mgr) to catch some shows
on the East coast. About a month ago, a friend called from Chicago and
says, "Hey Jimmy, you wanna see Rush 3rd row?" Naturally, I was
dumbfounded. He also mentioned possible backstage and perhaps meeting
Geddy. So, on the spur of the moment, I thought about this and decided
to change travel plans and head out to Illinois instead. I'm sure Dave
understood the reasoning there. :) Once again, plans to catch up with
the rush-mgr on a Rush tour failed again. That's two tours now in a
row (Presto and RTB), that plans to party again with Dave fell through.
But then for 3rd row seats I'm sure he understood, couldn't pass that up
now could we?
The trip was for Nov. 9th (which is the 2nd Anniv. date for the NMS),
and Nov. 10th. and I was to return to sunny San Diego, California on
the 11th of November. So much for staging and producing an Anniversary
issue on the 9th, looks like I'm headed to see Rush instead!!
So I flew out to Chicago from San Diego on the 9th, was picked up by my
friend The Patster himself. Luckily for me, there was a show at Redbird
Arena (Illinois State University) that night and Patster happen to have
an extra ticket (how nice) in the Lower Bowl row 1, so those seats were
a warm welcome. We both grab a quick bite to eat, I met my hosts for my
stay (parents parents :) and off we were to Normal, Ill. to catch Rush on
tour!
The drive took quite a while, so we tuned into some Rush CD's while
doing 80mph down to Normal, passing up other Rush-bound travelers of the
night. Along the way, we almost hit a deer crossing the road by about
15-20 feet away, not that it's relevant but reflecting back, it would have
been a bummer to miss out on a Rush show because we hit a deer along the
way :-).
Normal was packed, thousands of college students pouring towards Redbird
Arena to catch the boys in concert! This was a great place to see them,
the arena being so small seating 7 or 8 thousand? I think.. the sound
was great from where I was, and we found out the setup for Rush wasn't
even a full stage setup. All the speakers could not be accommodated for
when they mounted the speakers the frame began to bend from the support
structure from the ceiling, so they had to take off speakers to make
sure it would be ok.
The show itself was specular, they opened with Force 10, and the crowd
went nutso. Alex was having problems with his guitar in the beginning,
and kept addressing his helpers off stage to fix some of the sound.
(This happened the next night too I noticed) I guess this early in the
tour they're still trying to get out bugs. A much welcome return is the
footage in the video screen backdrop. It's nice to see the return of
the video sequences to Subdivisions and Distant Early Warning in
particular.
The light show and laser show I felt was lacking in some places, especially
where lasers where. I could have sworn they used at least 2 times the laser
effects for HYF! The best of course were for Xanadu and La Villa.
I had a big white banner that said Rush (written like Hemispheres) so if
you were at the show (Hi Kevin, surprised you really saw it!), that would
be me and the Patster. The smaller arena I thought sounded really good.
Alex was being funny again, playing synth with his nose (just like during
Presto) during Superconductor. The highlight would be Neil's incredible
drum solo, Xanadu and La Villa. The medley for the encore was nicely done
as well. Geddy can definitely no longer hit those high notes, and this was
very evident, especially for Anthem. All in all a very exciting show.
(Thanks John for the ticket :) But I couldn't wait until 3rd row.
After Normal, we drove back to Chicago where it was freezing. Having been
spoiled by wonderful California weather I was still adjusting to
sub-freezing temperature. Tomorrow (Sunday) was another day, another
concert. We made it back in good timing 90mph all the way (gotta love
cruise control eh?) We tested out the subwoofers too, talk about bass
response during Xanadu!! I could't wait to hear the real thing again in
Milwaukee. (and from row 3 at that!) So we headed in for a quick sleep, me
carrying a big bundle of souvenirs from the show (read I bought everything
in sight and can anyone lend me money? :)
We overslept (Thanks pat!) and then good old John T. (oops no names
mentioned right?) held us up again! :) We headed out to Milwaukee, late,
but made a detour to pick up another friend (yet another Pat - female this
time), for the show. Not having seen snow in a long time (it doesn't snow
in sunny San Diego, you know) I did what every sane Rush fan would attempt,
leaving some room, I went with a running head start then planted my feet
and skidded in the snow for a good 10-12 feet. :-) Yeah I know, the
California weather spoils ya, but it was one of those things you had to do
when you see snow like you did in Milwaukee.
Pat C. and Pat S. headed to willcall, got their backstage pass (nice of Mr.
Secret - hint see Permanent Waves CD insert for real identity :), John and
I checked out the arena, got some earplugs (never know if you need them).
Before this, we went up to meet some NMS subscribers (Hello again Kevin T.)
Naturally, with a small crowd of NMS people around, the topic of Mr.
Rush-mgr popped up, apparently they all wanted to know if he had died (read
lots of digests missing and I wanna know where the hell they are). So of
course I had to dispell the myth, Dave was about as dead as the rumor of
Neil's cancer or Geddy's throat problems (right Mike?). Yes, it appears
that the rumors of the rush-mgr's death have been highly exaggerated.
After chatting a while with some of the NMS crowd (sorry Mark I missed you
at the show), we all bailed for our seats (Kevin up in mile-high land) and
went back to our 3rd row seats. (Sorry too Steve S. we missed you somehow
in the arena) :-(
Eric Johnson came on, did a really great show I thought. Everyone was
really on their feet by the time he did Cliffs of Dover. I couldn't
believe how close I was to the stage. About 15 or so feet from the stage
right in front of Alex. So you had in row 3 of Milwaukee 3 members of the
NMS!! and a big Rush banner to boot. There was also another Rush head
there (Mandy - see ASOF #2 the Rush fanzine article by her). I had met
Mandy on the Presto tour in Phoenix, so talk about a small world! She was
also at Normal. All of us started rocking when Rush opened with Force 10,
the sound was really good, even that close up. I didn't really need the
earplugs so off they went. John did the same and surprisingly, my ears
didn't ring afterwards.
There were a couple of goofs during Subdivisions, most noticably in the
backdrop video where they messed up the footage and interchanged "basement
bars" shots with "back of cars", and "high school halls." But the boys
played tight as usual. You'll definitely enjoy Neil's new version of his
drum solo, talk about cool quadrophonic sound. When they approached our
side of the stage I guess you could say the NMS was well represented, we
all raised the banner and Geddy with Alex both smiled. They really saw it
during the encore performance of Spirit of Radio ("..concert halls..." and
the lights came on!). By the time Anthem hit everyone was in amazement,
even the security guards and some policement were amazed by the laser shows
of La Villa. I won't go too much into the songs, you'll definitely not
want to miss this tour so catch it!
We all drove home in the snow exhausted, but well worth the time and effort
for the drive to Milwaukee. Thanks again Steve S. for the tickets, I won't
forget the favor. Damn good seats!
IV. Epilogue
Now I'd like to thank a lot of the members on here. I can't believe that a
year ago, Dave was boasting 500 members (see Digest 98) and now we're
running over 1000+ members on this mailing list. I've met a lot of people
on here both over email and in person. (Pat, Kevin, Shawn, Leon, Dan,
Dave, Kelly .. etc..) and I will be meeting more I'm sure as Rush takes their
RTB tour to the West Coast. Dan, I hope to be catching up with you again down
here and up in Fresno, Bay area. Chris I will be catching up up in the bay
area I'm sure (thanks for all the tour dates you helped me with), and
hopefully, Patster will hit the West coast too. I only wish I could party
with the rush-mgr like everyone wants to :-) but hey! I promise to catch
up with you in the D.C. area next tour (yeah, yeah, I know, I said that for
Presto when you were in Ca.)
Finally, I Wanted to thank (and adverstise) the following Rush publications
for their help and also for carrying some NMS stuff in their publications
(smile everyone, we're being distributed through fanzine outlets!)
ASOF (A Show of Fans) Spirit of Rush
c/o Steve Streeter c/o Ray Wawrzyniak
PO Box 292 110 Red Oak Drive
Canton, CT 06019 Williamsville, NY 14221
And one final thing (I promise) I am definitely glad to be back in
California, now I await the arrival of Rush to the west coast. Sorry,
but there is a nice thing when you land in 90 degree weather in Sunny
California! as opposed to chilly cold Chicago! But don't worry, I'll be
back for Alpine I'm sure.. :-) So if you see me at a concert look for a
banner with Rush writing (the Hemispheres logo) and walk up and say hello!
Until then, thank you again and we look forward to another year.
-Jimmy Lang
jlang@syrinx.umd.edu
aka ~ Rush Fanatic ~
**************************************************************************
V. A word from his most-esteemed rush-mgr
Oh, puhleez, how 'bout just "David"? :-)
Well, I don't have too much to say here. It's been a tough month for me,
and the NMS has suffered a bit for it, I'm sad to say. My normal schedule
of week-daily postings went right out the window for about two weeks. *sigh*
What's a manager to do?
I won't bore the list members with a long-winded discourse, and I did that
in the first anniversary issue anyway! I can't tell you how wonderful the
show on the current tour is, as I don't get that privilege until Dec. 3rd
(right, Donna?). I will ramble a bit on the people I've met through the
digest, and then cite a couple names in the 'people who make life much
easier' category.
It's interesting how you can become friends, or at least steady acquaintences
with someone hundreds or thousands of miles away. It is even easier when you
have such a strong common tie, that of excellent music. I've forged contacts
in several places, and could probably tour the world visiting and collecting
on those beers I've been offered! Most of the people I've encountered through
the NMS have been really solid types, although any group will have it's flakes
as well. I've been lucky that the flake quotient is quite low, lower than you
might imagine in a forum like this.
As Jimmy mentioned, this list has grown from that small shared .mailrc file
with 20-odd names (<in Groucho Marx voice> 20 of the oddest names you'd hope
to find!) to an astounding (to me, anyway) 1100+, headed quickly for 1200.
Along with that, the volume of mail flowing through poor Syrinx boggles my
mind - heck, I get 50 bounces *per day* for deferred mail items, machines
that disappear and magically reappear, name servers being a bit too close-
lipped, etc. I may be a throwback, but it's all done by hand, except for
transforming the mail file into the digest you see. It used to take 15 min.
on a hard day; it's now an hour on a good day! There are several people who
have helped along the way; some have moved on, others are new, and a few have
been around all along. I'd like to mention a few here, with the full knowledge
that I'll probably forget a couple. Believe me, it's not intentional!!
First of all, a name you should all know, since you see his mail-id on a
monthly basis, Dan Delany, the keeper of the sacred FAQL. He's also an old-
timer, and high on the list of people I want to meet. There's also TJ Higgins,
who does much behind-the-scenes work keeping the mail server at Ingr.com up
and responding. Without him I'd have to implement it on Syrinx in addition
to the ftp stuff. Aargh!! Oh, and I don't want to forget Keith Ford, who
set that up to begin with. Also there's the people who manage the redist-
ribution points for the list, without whom I'd have to handle even more mail
and overhead; Erin Sasaki at Johns Hopkins, Steve Chan at CMU, Brian Hope at
William & Mary, Stuart Labovitz, and a couple of other anonymous re-dist.
managers out there. Hats off to all of them for making things go as well
as they do; every little bit helps! (Erin for certain has an inkling of what
I do daily!) I'd also like to thank those who have helped me out in areas
I have little knowledge in, like Frank Schaapherder and Mario D'Alessio for
their help with the guitar and bass tabs archive. I'd be lost trying to
keep that together w/out them, and probably wouldn't even try. Then there's
the multitude of people who have submitted transcriptions of tourbooks,
interviews, articles, poems and all sorts of stuff that grace the "special"
directory at the ftp site - too many to mention, but thanks to you all!
Lastly, there's Jimmy Lang for his timely prodding to help me keep my interest
in doing all this, with his load o' gifs, and his photos (right Jimmy?). Also
I'd like to mention Meg Jahnke for her transcriptions and the bitchin' shirt.
(Gee, I hope I spelled it right, Meg!) I owe you a couple of pictures, too.
Lastly but definitely not least-ly are the various people who have struck up
acquaintances with me over the last two years, and a couple who I'd like to
consider friends, even though we've only dealt electronically; all my tape
buddies, Puanani out in paradise :-), Frank S. and his bike, Erin for her
finger info :-), Meg for "Burning Marshmallows", the Patster, Barry, Dan,
Neal, and Pat locally (long live ticket lines, eh?), Mauricio who is anything
but local (and I *still* owe much mail to!!!!), and as they say, "a host of
others." I know I'm missing someone who has helped me immensely, or who has
traded quite interesting mail with me. Please forgive me if you fall into
this category, and remind me to mention you next year. For <insert deity
here> willing, I'll be around for a while to come.
So get out there and rock, and Roll The Bones!
David Arnold, or as most know me, "rush-mgr"
P.S. Those attending any Washington DC area concert parties have the chance
to try Roll The Bones Ale, or soon-to-come, Dreamlager...
Homebrewers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your waistlines!
**************************************************************************
VI. Collection of thoughts from old veterans
---------------------------------------------
>From ddelany@nike.calpoly.edu Mon Nov 11 17:13:25 1991
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 91 17:12:03 -0800
From: ddelany@nike.calpoly.edu (Dan Delany)
Subject: Re: Anniv. issue take 2
It's hard to believe the Digest has been going for 2 years now. I sure
didn't expect it to last this long, or have over 1000 subscribers.
Compared to some of the other lists I subscribe to, TNMS has maintained
a pretty good level of conversation, too. I'll have to say that sometimes
I want to just shake some posters sometimes, the information content has
remained pretty good. And I sure never expected to keep a FAQL that has
grown too big for some mailers to handle in one piece, but that's just
a software problem. :-)
I've met some pretty cool people through the list - I still owe Jimmy a
pizza, and I'll buy the rush-mgr a beer any time he's in California. Now
those are 2 people who deserve all of our thanks - TNMS wouldn't exist
in it's present form if they hadn't put in so much work.
Being the keeper of the FAQL has been an interesting experience. I get
about 5 or 6 requests for it a week, and I occasionally still get some
input/suggestions, but that's stabilized lately since I believe I've
got most of the big questions, as well as many not-so-big questions
in there.
And now we've got another tour! I'm excited. But I have to wait until
January. Grumble.
Well.
Anybody want to host a TNMS "staff" picnic?
[YEAH! I'm all for this one hehe :-) - JL]
Dan Delany ddelany@eros.calpoly.edu
"If Bob can't figure out his VCR, he'll never be able to figure out women."
------------
>From meg@syrinx.umd.edu Fri Nov 15 11:49:25 1991
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 91 14:47:52 -0500
From: meg@syrinx.umd.edu (******* Meg *******)
Subject: Anniversary Take II
I just wanted to say thanks to the rush-mgr for putting in so much time
voluntarily to make this digest run! It would be in sad shape if we still had
the mail reflect running rather than a concise digest. Keep up the good work!
You know the rush-mgr is busy when he doesn't even have time to post in the
digest any more (remember that time? :) )
And to all you new list members, you should check out past issues of the
digest to see the difference between now and then. Lotta cool stuff in old
issues! Too bad we don't have anything earlier than June of last year (when
the digest consisted of only one or two articles some days!).
Now I'm trying to put together a Rush Collector's Guide using the FAQL, the
discography, old NMS issues and lots of mail; keep sending in whatever you
have to me (I even need tour shirts and tour program descriptions, and
pictures always help out if you have the time!). Thanks to all the people
who've helped me out so far...
BJENKINS@ecs.umass.edu C9036973@wombat.newcastle.edu.au
CONNELLY@vms.cis.pitt.edu FMOORE@vax.clarku.edu
H97SI@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU KRKST2@vms.cis.pitt.edu
U24129@UICVM.uic.edu U28802@UICVM.uic.edu
WMEAKIN%DREW.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU adamkp@rpi.edu
aetucker@attmail.com at656@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
bpitas@dec5200b ccmsean@hamlet.ucdavis.edu
chip%thumper.pcc.com@uvm-gen.UVM.EDU cklausme@jarthur.Claremont.edu
datta@cs.uwp.edu daveh@fisher.psycha.upenn.edu
davida@umd5.UMD.EDU ddelany@nike.calpoly.edu
ervan@cs.rice.edu fulton@copper.ucs.indiana.edu
habbinga@ucsu.Colorado.EDU jaeger@buphy.bu.edu
jjdavis@jhunix.hcf.jhn.edu jlang@syrinx.umd.edu
jpb8@po.CWRU.Edu jsbh+@andrew.cmu.edu
lance@cynic.wimsey.bc.ca lls2n@fulton.seas.Virginia.EDU
mikes@ucscb.UCSC.EDU murry@adtshr.enet.dec.com
saurav@tgevax.life.uiuc.edu schaaphe@serc.nl
starman@Athena.MIT.EDU toronto@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
trice@csugrad.cs.vt.edu wbarry@cory.berkeley.edu
wcsvic@ccs.carleton.ca whatis@gnu.ai.mit.edu
-Meg
----------------------------------------------------------
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Copyright The Rush Fans Mailing List, 1991.
Editor, The National Midnight Star
(Rush Fans Mailing List)
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End of The National Midnight Star Number 378
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